Stones in Skin
by Musicunderground
Summary: Oneshot:James, Albus and Lily Potter only knew what their grandparents looked like from photographs. Their father couldn't tell them any stories; he had never really known them himself. Nothing could bring them back. For more then a few seconds, anyway...


**So… this just kinda… **_**came**_** to me this morning… literally out of nowhere… and I thought that I might as well right it…**

**Right, for this story, I'm going on the idea that James is one year older then Albus, who is two year older then Lily. James is in his fourth year, Albus his third, and Lily her first.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Harry Potter**

Stones in Skin

It was a cold October night- just a few days before Halloween. The moon and stars were hidden by large, dark clouds. A biting wind made it's way through the grounds of Hogwarts. The trees of the Forbidden Forest stretched up into the sky, looking formidable…

Three children stood in front of the looming trees. The oldest- James Potter- stood on the left. His legs were crossed and he was resting his right arm on the shoulder of the person next him. He grinned easily and confidently up at the trees. Next to him, his younger brother, Albus, was standing with his feet pointing forwards. The fear on his face was shadowed by a look of fake confidence as he still looked at the trees uneasily. Finally, their younger sister, Lily- at least a head shorter then the boys- was shaking ever so slightly. Her toes were pointing inwards, and she was clutching Albus' hand so hard that her knuckles had turned white. Fear was etched onto her features, her scared eyes looking at the trunks of the trees.

"I don't want to go in," Lily finally whispered, squeezing Albus' hand harder.

"Oh, c'mon, Lils! It's not that bad!" James said, giving a short laugh.

"But Rose said students weren't _allowed_ in there!" Lily replied.

"No one's going to catch us, Lily!" James took a step forward and looked back at his siblings, "you coming, Al?" Albus hesitated, and then took a step forward, pulling Lily along.

"It'll be alright, Lily. I went in there once on a detention, remember? I came back alright," he told her.

"But had Hagrid with you!"

"Oh, stop worrying!" James said, striding towards the trees, "if you can do this, you can do anything!" Lily looked up at the black leaves, eyes wide. Finally, she walked forward, but she didn't let go of Albus' hand. "That's a girl!" James praised.

The three of them entered the forest, and it seemed to get even darker. They walked for a little bit in silence. James at the front, stepping over tree roots and stumps. He grinned and glanced back every now and then, checking that his siblings hadn't chickened out and left. Albus and Lily stumbled along behind them, still holding hands, and Lily tripped over some of the roots several times, but Albus caught her. Every time, Lily let out a tiny squeak, and Albus murmured, "It's alright, Lils, don't worry."

Finally, Lily said "it's too dark!" James rolled his eyes, and took out his wand.

"_Lumos_," he said, and the end of his wand lighted up. Albus and Lily copied, sending three thin beams of light across the ground.

Deeper and deeper into the forest they went, and slowly, Lily's fear evaporated. She let go of Albus' hand and made her own way over the many bumps and dips in the ground. James asked if she was feeling better, and she replied with a small 'Mmm'. The trees started to get even closer together. They got even taller. It got even darker. Several times, they thought they heard something walk past them- but James insisted it must just be centaur. Lily asked if I might've been a Unicorn- Rose had told her Unicorns lived in the Forest. But James just scoffed- he didn't really find Unicorns impressive- Unicorns didn't carry around bows and arrows like centaurs. But Albus told her that it might be, and Lily smiled slightly.

"OW!" Lily suddenly cried. She'd fallen over again. Albus helped her up and she looked down at her hands. They were covered in dirt, with small twigs and stones imbedded in the skin. Holding her alight wand over it, she started to pick the twigs and stones out of her hand- leaving small dents. Finally, she came to a stone that was slightly larger then the rest of them. It was dusty and dirty, but when Lily scratched off the grime, she saw that it was a black stone, with some sort of weird picture on it. A triangle, a circle, and there was a crack down the middle of it…

"Look!" she called to her brothers. They turned and she held out the stone. James and Albus peered at it, their foreheads creased.

"So?" Albus said, "Put it down, Lily, you don't know where it's been or what's walked on it… or worse…" but Lily ignored him.

"But look at the funny picture!" she pressed. James took the stone out of her hand.

"Looks kinda expensive… 'cept for this crack… probably makes it worthless…" he shrugged, turning the stone over in his hands to look at the back of it. "C'mon, let's carry on!" he turned around and kept on walking, still turning the stone over as he looked at it.

There was a faint light coming from the side of the children. A light that wasn't coming from any of their wands. Lily was the first to look. She thought she saw a leg disappearing behind a tree. She grabbed hold of Albus' hand. "What?" he asked. Lily pointed and he thought he saw the face of a woman peering out from behind a trunk.

"James!" he whispered. A faint, male laugh seemed to echo around them,

"What was that?" James asked, looked frightened for the first time. All three of the started looking around frantically. They all stopped, looking at the same place, as two people came out from behind a tree. On was a woman, with long red hair and the same green eyes as Albus. The other was a man, who looked like the children's father, Harry, tall, with messy back hair and glasses. The two people smile. The three children still looked on with fright.

The man took the woman's hand and he started to walk forward. The stone slipped from James' fingers and onto the floor. The man and woman looked at them one last time, smiling sadly, and then they disappeared.

"Did you just see that?" Albus whispered. James nodded and Lily squeaked something that sounded like 'yeahmm'. They all stood their in silence for a second.

"I want to leave now!" Lily whispered.

"Yeah… yeah, let's go!" James muttered. Slowly, the three children turned and walked back through the forest, and as they went, they all kept glancing back at the place where they had seen the man and the woman...

**So… like I said… that just came to me… I have no idea what it's like… if it's even a good idea… but I thought 'what the hell' and wrote it…**

**Please Review!**


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